Review Fix chats with Miles & The Chain Gang’s Miles Salter, who discusses his origin in music and goals for the future.
Review Fix: How did the project start?
Miles Salter: I started writing songs in the 1980s. Made a bunch of CDs and cassettes in the 1990s but not many people heard them. I sent some of the stuff to record companies. In those days they would write back to you to turn you down. Now you just get ignored! Made an album in 2007. Fast forward to 2018, and I was playing open mic nights in York, bumped into Billy (Hickling, drums) one night at Ruby Tuesday. We played a music and poetry gig together and Tim (Bruce, bass) was there. We got talking in the pub afterwards and it was clear he was very experienced. Alan (Dawson, lead guitar) walked into the Three Legged Mare one night in the summer of 2018, en route from Scotland to Love Supreme. It was weird how it happened that summer, really in the space of about 8 weeks.
First time I played with Tim and Billy was magic, I was really excited. I could see the potential.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Salter: I write the songs and then we arrange them together. In the studio it’s more exciting and organic, ideas can come to you. Between us we know lots of musicians so we’ve been able to bring in session players on the stuff we have recorded recently. Billy and Tim add a lot of power to the songs, plus they can play in lots of different styles and rhythms so it means things get mixed up a bit more. We have a song called ‘Drag Me To The Light’ which has a slight Nile Rogers vibe to it. It’s a big strength to have that diversity – it means you are painting a picture with a wider range of colour and shade.
Review Fix: What’s your standout song in your live set? How was it written?
I wrote a song called ‘When It Comes To You’ which you can see on Youtube. It’s a punchy song, has a bit of a new wave vive to it – Elvis Costello, The Police, that kind of thing. It was written about somebody I was really into but they weren’t really reciprocating. That thing when you like somebody but they don’t like you back. So annoying! It is really a song of frustration, although it sounds happy. I like songs that do that. You think they’re really upbeat, then you listen to the lyrics. Del Amitri’s ‘Always The Last To Know’ does that. Sounds happy but somebody described it as ‘desperately sad’. Most songs are about frustration or disappointment in some way. There are songs that are just ‘everything’s great’, but there are far more that have been composed by somebody who is feeling pissed off!
Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2020?
Salter: We are hoping to make our second video in September for a song called ‘Drag Me To The Light’ which is about lockdown. I’m just trying to get it sorted out now. So much of presence now is about video, and that seems even more important with gigs suspended. I would love us to do gigs but they are very slow to happen at present, which is incredibly frustrating for so many musicians and venue owners. I really hope gigs come back soon. I miss them.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
Salter: Great question. I’d like people to have something to hum, and to feel less alone. George Orwell said ‘The best books tell you what you already know’. It’s the same with music. You hear a song and think ‘that’s how I feel’. Vulnerability is important. It counts for a lot. It makes us respond to each other.
Review Fix: What’s next for Miles and the Chain Gang?
Salter: More videos, hopefully soon. I want to do an album. We have four songs recorded, so we have made a start. We have been recording with Jonny Hooker at Young Thugs studios in York, which is an amazing resource to have on our doorstep. And gigs – I’d love us to tour, something I have always wanted to do. This isn’t a fast project, though. Things take time, we have families and other commitments. I’m learning to be patient and resilient. Hopefully the next couple of years will see things develop.
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